We must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
Julius Cæsar, Act iv. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.
Fierce warres, and faithful loves shall moralize my song.
Faërie Queene, Bk. I. Proem. E. SPENSER.
Send danger from the east unto the west,
So honor cross it from the north to south,
And let them grapple: O! the blood more stirs
To rouse a lion than to start a hare!
* * * * *
By Heaven, methinks, it were an easy leap,
To pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon,
Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,
And pluck up drowned honor by the locks.
K. Henry IV., Pt. I. Act i. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.
A wild dedication of yourselves
To unpathed waters, undreamed shores.
Winter's Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.
ADVERSITY.
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
As You Like It, Act i. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.
Calamity is man's true touchstone. Four Plays in One: The Triumph of Honor, Sc. 1. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged
To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days,
On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues.
Paradise Lost, Bk. VII. MILTON.